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Winners!

First, a big, warm thank you to everyone for participating in this giveaway! There are so many kindhearted angels in this world and how I wish I could have chosen dozens of names.

After quickly realizing that the random generator wouldn't work as I had a few emails as well as some comments being worth 2 chances in the drawing, I chose the winners the old fashioned way...

I'm sure if I were more clever there would have been an easier way...but the thought occurred to me as I was writing each name on a slip of paper, that each of these names { most of whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting} represented a life.

 A precious life.

Each possessing extreme value and a divine purpose and  special dreams...

...just like those precious women in Haiti for whom this giveaway will benefit.

 

...with eyes closed, I swished and swished the entries around more times than I needed to....oh how I wanted everyone to win! 

But the winners are................

Congratulations, Terri, Sharon, and Nancy!

[Nancy, if you have a blog let me know and I'll update this post with a link to yours as well!] Edited: link to Nancy's blog is now in place!

Happy shopping to you in the Haiti by Hand Etsy Shop!

I'll follow up with each of you in an email later today to share the specifics of how to redeem your chosen treasures from the Etsy store!
 

Pink Saturday--Spring, Glorious Spring!

"Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the spring when it is gone."
-- Roy R. Gilson

Thank you for stopping by for Pink Saturday. As always, a warm round of applause for Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting. For a complete listing of today's participants, head over to Beverly's blog!

As much as I love summer, if it were up to me, I would have winter last about one month and then head straight for Spring! What a glorious time of the year. Seemingly overnight, the earth awakens from its slumber. Gray and gloomy gives way to color and cheer.

It is like watching nature dramatize the word "hope"...with each new bud, the emergence of green, eggs in nests, songbirds singing, roots shooting up their hidden secrets...

I love how hope looks, feels, and behaves in any setting, be it Spring or any slice of life.

Happy Spring all you pink ladies!

xo, sue

p.s. At the top of my page I'm having a giveaway for a wonderful cause. A cause that is helping to spread that word hope to many who so desperately need it. Everyone is welcome to play!

It's a GIVEAWAY!

more recent posts to include pink saturday are located after this post 

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

~Edward Everett Hale

Yes, indeed, it's a GIVEAWAY!  And you get to choose your own prize(s)! Even better, you'll be going shopping without ever leaving your house! As if those aren't enough reasons for celebration, I've saved the best news for last. By going shopping, you'll be sharing more hope and more love to a beautiful group of women in Haiti.

 That's right! Three of you sweet ladies will each have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the HAITI BY HAND ETSY SHOP!  

Leaving a comment on this post up until Wednesday, April 28th, 9PM EST, is all you need to do in order to be eligible to win one of the certificates. Want to double or triple your chances of winning? If you would be so kind as to blog about this giveaway OR make a donation to the Haiti by Hand Etsy shop your name will be added once for each of these thoughtful gestures. Be sure to let me know if you do either of these {email or in a comment}.

If you don't have an Etsy account, don't let that stop you from entering. It's easy and free to sign up for your own account.

Like many of you, I've been so inspired by Rebecca Sower's heart, tireless efforts, and hopeful vision for the people of Haiti. As she's mentioned in her Haiti by Hand blog, she's just one person and while she can't reach every person in Haiti, she can reach some of them. And when others do a little here and a little there, all of our littles can grow into something bigger. {same concept as how laundry piles become enormous!}

In fact, when the idea first came to me to offer gift certificates to the HBH Etsy shop as a giveaway, I hesitated. After all, I don't have a big blog. Not by any stretch of the wildest imagination. Pushing that can't do thought aside, I realized that even my little {or your little} will be greatly appreciated by these dear women in Haiti. So with wobbly little legs {can't do attitude now hitching up with a little insecurity!} I shot an email off to Rebecca. Of course, being the sweetheart she is, her kindness encouraged me to move forward. And likewise, through our combined gestures of kindness, we can encourage these Haitian women to move forward as well...

If you haven't already done so, I would encourage you to read the Haiti by Hand blog and meet some of these dear people for whom our collective efforts will serve to wrap them in a warm, sweet hug and plant priceless seeds of hope in their hearts!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

 

Vintage buttons...or discovered treasure?

Have you seen the TV show Accidental Fortune? We watched it last evening...a first for us.  Last night's episode featured a brooch purchased for $12 at an antique store, but worth nearly a half a million dollars. Also showcased were stories on a Norman Rockwell painting, a rare cello worth 3.5 million {a curbside trash find}, and a bat signed by Babe Ruth. They did a great job in developing the stories and giving pertinent background information to make the show interesting & informative as well as entertaining. I'd definitely tune in again.

But it got me to thinking about those buttons I purchased recently...

 
They were on Ebay and I believe I paid around $11 for the lot of them. They definitely made no mention in the listing of being famous buttons....  {update: oops! me bad. there was mention of the writing. how does "one" miss something like that? answer: "one" only looked at the photos that were a bit out of focus and didn't read the written description of the item.}

...so imagine my surprise when they arrived to read the writing on this card.

{source}   Franklin Delano Roosevelt w/mother, Sara Roosevelt-1887

Is it true? Do  I now own some of Sara's buttons? If so, why didn't Eleanor keep these pretty buttons? I answered that question myself with a little google reading on Sara Roosevelt. And I quote:

 After Sara died on September 7, 1941, ER wrote in her column that Sara's "strongest trait was loyalty to her family. . . . She was not just sweetness and light, for there was a streak of jealously and possessiveness in her when her own were concerned."⁽¹⁾  ER recognized Sara's fierce strength, but she could not love her. "It is dreadful," she wrote a friend, "to have lived so close to someone for 36 years & feel no deep affection or sense of loss. It is hard on Franklin however."⁽²⁾ {source}

Ouch. Very sad actually...if one can believe everything they read {and no, one can't!} Sara might have had some rough edges to her personality. But her buttons are pretty, aren't they?

Assuming of course {and never assume nothing!} that these actually were her buttons someone once tried to sell for $96. The fact that they spelled her name wrong {she doesn't have an "h" at the end} makes one a bit suspicious.

But even if I could prove they were Sara's buttons {which I can't} these wouldn't meet the criteria for TLC's new show, Accidental Fortune. I believe the value of an item needs to be at least $15,000. That being said, I have no desire to be on television. None. Ever! But hubby claims if I add one more item to my craft room I might qualify for the show that came on right before Accidental Fortune. It was called: Buried Alive. It's about people who have problems with hoarding.

I resemble that comment.

Stay tuned. A giveaway is soon to appear.....

Digital downloads...

 

 It's a fun dream, isn't it? Buying time in a bottle, that is....just think! of the possibilities. But that ain't going to happen and unfortunately, wish as I may, I won't be able to share any of those type of time bottles with you.

Instead, I'll have to make this share about the darling little "time bottle" I have in my stuff. From all indications it is old and has a patent number raised in glass on the bottom. Beyond that, I have no idea of its history, what it was used for, etc. And while I'm at it, I also wanted to share this source of where I found these taped frames and letter strips featured in my post today.

TIME to get back to the stuff that keeps me from having TIME to do the things I'd really like to do....

...like blog more often

...like put together a yummy giveaway....but guess what? I'm working on that, so stay tuned! It is TIME for this hoarder, i mean collector, to share some goodies.

xo, sue

p.s. Credit due to Jim Croce  [1943-73] for borrowing and altering the words to his hit song, Time in a Bottle.

Bird Watcher...or is it birds that watch?

Make no mistake, I am a bird watcher. bird listener. bird lover. But today, it was like nature in reverse.  The birds were watching us...for hours!

There was a pack of birds that continued to lightly bounce off the windows, sit perched on the outside sills and look in the house. Not once, not twice, not a dozen times, but at least a hundred times if not more...it was the strangest thing. One son called it downright creepy and qualified his statement with reminding me of the old Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds!

 

All the commotion caused this little girl to break the sacred rule of no paws on the counters.

 {Notice the little splotch of mud above her eye and the wet fur. The mud spot is from knocking down tennis balls with her head.  Tennis balls she drops in the pool and then expects me to fetch them and toss them to her, over and over and over again. She's quite athletic and could catch them in the air if she wouldn't insist upon keeping one in her mouth at all times.}

 

Still a little baffled by this steady stream of window peekers today, but it sure was cute while it lasted. Hope your days was filled with some unexpected, delightful little surprises as well! 
 

Spring Beauty

 

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Despite the fact that our vacation to the beach was wonderful in so many different ways, there is no place like home. And just as I suspected, during our absence Spring had reached a new and even more glorious level. Oh, how I adore Spring.  Our three crabapple trees which barely had blooms when we left were now at their peak.

 

 

 

 

Another Spring tree that is in a 6 way tie for my favorite flowering tree (!) is the Red Bud tree. It was so fun as we drove through southern Georgia, parts of Alabama and eventually into Florida, to see all the little lady Red Buds [too pretty to be boys] glowing in their neon pink dresses set against a backdrop of new spring leaves. We only have one of these trees and I held my breath when we relocated it during our backyard renovation several years ago. But like a real woman, she was strong and resilient and learned to grow despite her new set of circumstances.

 

 
The fact that my little Red Bud is sporting some new leaves means that the blooms aren't long for this world. A week [or so] ago a branch looked like this...

 

 
Even the Dogwoods that were nowhere to be seen a week ago have come to brighten the world!

While I could sit and load a bazillion or so more photos [so grateful for digital photography] I'll end this forever post with a photo of some Wisteria I captured somewhere at a truck stop in Alabama.

 

 
If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. 

~Terri Guillemets

 

p.s. Adding a little edit after this published. IF nature and flowers warm your heart, take a moment and see the breathtaking beauty of the wild Virginia bluebells Patty has posted on her blog today! Oh my!!!

 

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

~Jacques Cousteau

 

 

Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of heaven.

~John Lubbock
 
 

Ready or not, here we go!

 
There are lists, and more lists, piles gathering here and there of what to bring, the washing machine is going, last minute errands, and my head is spinning. Someone must be getting ready to go on vacation! 

But since one of my dreams in life would be to live on a beach, I'll put up with the spinning head..................... 

....because I love the white sugar sand, the skies that stretch to the heavens....

 
 ...the constant wind and roar of the sea that seem to carry away and drown out the cares of the world......................

....and some of my favorite antique stores just happen to be in this area! In January, here are a few of the goodies I snagged at my favorite haunts......

Some old books printed in the 19th century...

When my eyes spotted these adorable french pencils my heart rate hit the danger zone. Practically squealing, I showed them to Mr. Fun who said, "Why don't you get one?"

One? JUST ONE? Is he kidding?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole drive home I was kicking myself for not having bought them all. Maybe they'll still be there? And maybe a flying donkey will drive me back to the store.....

 
 
  The last two photos are of two adorable little linen rompers that cost $6 each.

 There were more great finds, but the clock is ticking and I best keep focused on the packing. Mr. Fun, who was traveling today to see a client called me as he was driving down a mountain somewhere in the state of West Virginia and his day was not going well. So if I hope to buy more than ONE PENCIL on this trip, Little Red Hen better be ready to travel. Smile.....